Giveaway

Check out this awesome giveaway....Miss Maia - who loves jackets - would be pretty cute in this coat don't you think?

Arizona

We had a restful, fun, completely rejuvinating weekend in Arizona spending time with family and running around the desert. And eating a lot of Mexican food, which is our favorite way to spend time with family. :-) The timing of the trip was excellent, the kids did great in the car, and I came home feeling like I had a real vacation. My mom, aunts, grandma, and angel au pair Debbi are awesome....they all made the trip possible and so much fun for me!

 

JD & Maia feeding my aunt's chickens

I kept waiting for their little hands to get pecked but they didn't

Too bad we didn't get any pictures but next thing we knew, JD had disappeared, and all of a sudden re-appeared inside the cage - he had found a door he could open and was just walking around inside with the chickens like he owned the place :-)

Both of them were saying "cluck cluck" every time they saw the chickens.....all credit goes to me and my mom singing countless rounds of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" with them

Debbi (JD & Maia's awesome nanny) feeling like she has been transported from Germany to Hollywood California and now to an old John Wayne western movie....full American experience

Sitting behind the wheel of my uncle's 38 year old Corvette

This was the cute little puppy at the place my grandma is living now.

 

Hikers in training....we carry our own snacks, drinks, and a spare diaper in our little backpacks that also have leashes on the back :-)

Getting amped up to do Stewart Falls with my parents in August...do you think they will be ready?

Ahhhh the beautiful desert....I love it the most in February when it is too cold for the rattlesnakes to be out

How  many times do you think a mama can say "Don't TOUCH that cactus?" on a hike?

Darling Debbi carrying JD who got tired of walking faster than Maia (my I-can-do-it-myself girl)

 

On the way home I almost died I needed a bathroom so bad.....I blame it on JD who kicked my bladder 1,347 times when I was pregnant with him. This was where the gas station I was waiting for???? I had to FLOOR it to the next exit 9 miles away where thankfully I found nice, clean, working bathrooms.

Brooks Street

From a recent visit to my favorite Orange County beach - this is my favorite time of year when it's a little grey but very green and there are no tourists. And the starfish are out.

Groundhog's Day

We had a really fun day at Balboa Island.....I liked shopping, the kids LOVED the boats (I think we spent about an hour just watching them) and we all shared a frozen chocoloate-covered banana...

 

 

 

Then we stopped by the Target at the Irvine Spectrum and figured, hey, when it's February 2 and 76 degrees in Southern California, we don't care about groundhogs......let's celebrate 6 more weeks of weather paradise by being that mom who lets her kids get kind of soaked in the water fountain. Because at some point you get old enough that splashing in a public fountain becomes socially unacceptable, so you should enjoy it while you are young, right?!? They were all smiles and laughed a lot too so it was a good day.

 

PS Fashionita Maia is still wearing her sweater when it hit 76 degrees because she loves sweaters and jackets and wants to wear them all the time regardless of the weather. She is into headbands these days too but unfortunately I think we lost the cute one we started the day with.